Diary Free Recipes : Easy Icing Recipes

A cake is only as good as its icing. If you are looking for an easy icing recipe, in this article you'll find some great tips on how to make delicious buttercream icing at home. Each variation delivers fantastic results every time, and we even show you how to tweak them to get the consistency you want. This means you can easily adapt these simple and easy icing recipes for either decorating or spreading.

Diary Free Recipes : Ingredients

• Butter (or margarine), ½ cup (1 stick), softened
• Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
• Milk, 2 tablespoons
• Confectioners' sugar, 4 cups
• Vegetable shortening, ½ cup, solid

Yield: 3 cups

Diary Free Recipes : Preparation

Soften and mix together butter and shortening in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add vanilla extract and then sugar, one cup at a time. Keep beating the mixture and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as you mix. When the mixture becomes dry, you will know the sugar has been thoroughly combined.

The next step is to add milk to the mixture. Keep beating at medium setting as you slowly add milk; the icing will start to become thin and fluffy. Keep beating until the consistency is light and fluffy.

Refrigerate the bowl until you are ready to use it. You can store it for up to two weeks, if refrigerated in a sealed, airtight container. When ready to use, rewhip the icing.

Once prepared, tweaking the texture can make it perfect for either spreading or decorating. If you want a thin consistency, add a couple of tablespoons of water, milk or light corn syrup. For a thicker consistency (pure white icing), substitute the butter with a half cup of shortening and a half teaspoon of colorless butter flavor.

This recipe only takes a few minutes to prepare. The end result is a rich and decadent buttercream icing that kids love!

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

What could be better than a freshly-baked homemade cake covered in layers of chocolate buttercream icing! As with our first easy icing recipe, this one can be tweaked to get different consistencies for use in either decorating or spreading.

Diary Free Recipes : Ingredients

• Butter (or margarine), ½ cup (1 stick), softened
• Vegetable shortening, ½ cup, solid
• Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
• Confectioners' sugar, 4 cups
• Cocoa powder, 2/3 cup
• Milk, 4 tablespoons

Yield: 3 cups

Diary Free Recipes : Preparation

Melt together softened butter and shortening in a larger bowl using an electric mixer. Add vanilla and cocoa powder, beating the mixture on medium speed. Next, add sugar, a cup at a time, while beating the mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so the icing does not stick. When all the sugar is combined, the icing will turn dry.

Add milk. Keep mixing until you get a thin, fluffy texture. At this stage you can refrigerate the bowl in a sealed, airtight container for up to two weeks. Remember to rewhip the icing before use. For variations, consider adding a twist of mocha or dark chocolate.

Mocha: For a bold mocha flavor, substitute the milk with cold-brewed strong coffee in the original chocolate buttercream icing recipe. This will give a richer, bolder chocolate buttercream icing with hints of mocha.

Dark Chocolate: For a dark chocolatey taste, add an additional quarter cup of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of milk to the original chocolate buttercream icing recipe. This variation produces a rich and utterly delicious dark chocolate icing.

This one be adjusted for your desired consistency as well. For a thinner texture, add three to four tablespoons of water, milk or light corn syrup. This consistency is ideal for spreading.

Enjoy!

Diary Free Recipes : Amazing Old Fashion Beverages

Do you remember the days when the weather was hot but the house didn't have air-conditioning? The best way to cool down was to sit out on the porch with an icy cold drink, a hand fan, and hopefully a cooling breeze? These beverage recipes may take your memory back to those days!

Diary Free Recipes : Amazing Old Fashion Beverages

Diary Free Recipes : OLD FASHION FRUIT TEA 

This is an old fashion tea recipe from my adopted home state of Texas and believe me, you would have needed a good cold tea here! We still do, in fact.

• 3 6-oz cans frozen orange juice, undiluted 
• 2 6-oz cans frozen lemonade, undiluted 
• 1 1-qt 14-oz can pineapple juice, undiluted 
• 2 cups sugar 
• several mint sprigs 
• 16 tsp (heaping) tea

Place fruit juices in a large container. Combine sugar, 2 cups water, and mint sprigs; heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove mint; add to fruit juices. Prepare tea in boiling water; steep. Strain tea; add to juice mixture. Add water to make 2 gallons. Serve over ice.

Diary Free Recipes : PINEAPPLE PUNCH 

I'm not sure who named this old punch. It is called pineapple punch yet it has equal amounts of pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice. Have you ever thought about using jelly in your punch?

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 3/4 cup currant jelly 
• 2 1/2 cups boiling water 
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice 
• 3/4 cup orange juice 
• 3/4 cup lemon juice 
• 1 1/2 cups ginger ale

Stir the sugar, jelly, and water until sugar and jelly are dissolved; cool. Add the pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over a block of ice in a punch bowl. Just before serving, add the ginger ale.

Yield: 12 servings

Diary Free Recipes : Amazing Old Fashion Beverages

Diary Free Recipes : YELLOW GOLD PUNCH 

This recipe was used in Southern Indiana in the 1950s and 1960s when I was young. It was suggested as a punch recipe for bridal showers.

• 2 cups water 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 1 can apricots, drained 
• 1 cup lemon juice 
• 2 cups orange juice 
• 2 bottles ginger ale 
• 1 can pineapple juice (12-oz)

Combine the water and sugar and heat until dissolved. Chill. Drain the No. 2 size can apricots and put apricots through sieve. Add to the sugar syrup and juices and chill. Add ginger ale just before serving, in punch bowl, over ice.

Note: You notice there is no size of the bottles of ginger ale. In those days a bottle of a soda was a bottle of soda without all the different sizes and we hadn't heard of 2-liters!

Enjoy!